Just Call Me Zaister
by Blazonix
Summary: Zack's been to the stars; there were no heroes there. He'd much prefer it if he could go back to pretending that the only world that existed was the one he was on. That's not gonna happen if everyone and their mother's keyblade keeps popping back up in existence.


This is a piece I worked on here and there for fun, so it's not all that great. Here's a heads up, word of the day is: Limit Break. Seriously, take a drink every time it comes up.

* * *

"Hey, Zack."

The Second Class paused in the middle of his squats in the empty training room and grinned at the other Second Class approaching him.

"Hey, Kunsel! What's up, buddy?" He asked in that famous upbeat way of his.

"Wondering why you're here so early, actually." Even behind the helmet he always wore, Zack could tell there were scarily intense eyes scanning him.

The spiky-haired youth stretched a bit, pondering over the reason himself.

_A body of a young teenager lay still on a cold, sterile table. His eyes were closed and no breaths were taken. The scratch of a pen against paper could be heard._

"_I have what you want; now give me what I want."_

_The scratching stopped. A silver eyebrow rose, but the man it belonged to didn't turn around._

"_If I refuse?" He asked the other presence mildly._

"_Then I will make you scream before I kill you." The voice promised._

_Xehanort made a rude noise, but turned his attention to the other all the same. He would have preferred if none knew the location (and how to get into said location) of his secret lab, but a long silver-haired man dressed completely in black leather with a gigantic wing was not exactly discreet._

_He noticed the young boy tucked under the man's arm. He couldn't see the face; all he saw were black spikes of hair, but he could tell from the clothing that this one had come from the Coliseum world._

"_Is he still breathing?" Xehanort asked pointedly._

_Sephiroth was not known for being able to hold back, at anything._

"_Yes." He replied impatiently._

"_Then set him on the table over there, and I'll show you how to open person's heart to darkness."_

_It was a risk, relying on a man like him for anything, but Xehanort had found that Sephiroth had an uncanny ability to tell who had exceptionally pure hearts and whose hearts were positively black with darkness._

"Eh, couldn't sleep. Angeal's supposed to be teaching me a new move today after virtual training!" Zack beamed at his friend, doing his best to will the memories of the dream away.

Kunsel stared at him for a heartbeat longer than normal, and Zack tried not to wilt under the pressure. He knew his friend well enough to know the other wasn't buying it. Instead of calling him on it though, Kunsel just nodded and began talking about the events listed for the day.

Zack let the one-sided conversation wash over him as he returned to his squats.

* * *

Sometimes, Angeal didn't quite know what to think. One moment Zack was behaving as childishly as possible (or perhaps as puppy-like), the next, something seemed to set him off and he were uncharacteristically serious. He sometimes wondered if his student had been replaced by a clone, which, he had to admit to himself, was a possibility when Hojo was considered.

In any case, today seemed to be an "off" day for his wayward student, who had displayed a new limit break today (how he kept getting more, he didn't know, but he despaired at discovering Zack somehow had an infinite amount), had a spectacular freak out, gave him a hasty bow (when did he pick up Wutai habits?), and fled the premises as fast as possible.

Angeal really was getting too old for this. He should have never adopted something so high-maintenance.

* * *

"Lookout! Out of the way! Coming through!" Zack cried as he flung himself through the crowd and towards the slums.

Why was there a random mob of people just standing around in the middle of the district? He sucked in a breath the moment he was free. And promptly let it back out in disbelief as he saw the reason for the crowd. There were two Nibel wolves growling at him through cages in the middle of the street.

"What the—?"

He was answered as some crazy-eyed man dressed in rags that had been sewed to resemble robes stepped up on a box in front of the cages.

"My brothers and sisters! Too long have we been repressed! Too long have we had to look up as the ones too wealthy and too fat threw garbage at us! Too long have we lived in our own filth! That changes today! Today, the god, Fenrir, has decided to bless us with these wolves, which will show us the way! We will rise!"

And with those final words, the crazy man pulled a remote control device out of his robes and slammed his fist into the only button on it. Everyone screamed and tried to flee as the door to the cages flew wide open and the wolves leapt out.

"Hey!" Zack barked and unsheathed his sword, catching the attention of the wolves.

Earlier, during virtual training, he had done something so wonderful and so horrible, that when it was over, he had raced out of the Shinra Building in a futile attempt to run from the memories. Having run out of the doors like he had been on fire, he had forgotten to leave his sword. He was so very glad he had it now.

"You will not stop us!" cried the madman, before letting out a shriek as the wolves turned and leapt at him.

"Hey!" Zack called again, trying to catch the attention of the wolves once more, but it was too late.

The wolves eyed him with bloody muzzles as they seemed torn between their meal and a possible new one. Zack didn't give them any more time to debate. He sprinted forward and swung, aiming for one of the wolves' neck. It leapt backwards, and Zack had to dodge as the other one darted forward for a bite.

Zack held his sword in front of him as he debated the best course of action.

"Didn't Angeal say something about this? Don't let them circle you?" He asked himself as the wolves did just that.

"Heh," Zack chuckled to himself, "Doesn't matter, more fun for me."

And with that, he let them have it.

* * *

"Ah, man! Angeal's not going to be happy if I show up tonight bleeding on his carpet!" Zack whined as he walked through the rest of the slums, bandaged and slightly bloody.

Maybe he could have done better, but he hadn't realized how much of an outlet he had needed at that moment. The only reason he wasn't going back to headquarters for a restorative was because he had no way of knowing if the crazy guy didn't have more Nibel wolves locked up in the area.

If he went back, he may have to talk to Angeal about his new limit break. That might have had something to do with it too.

He stopped in surprise as he saw what appeared to a run-down church. He tilted his head, taking in the strange appearance in a place like the Sector Five slums. He debated with himself briefly, before shrugging and strolling towards it. An abandoned church was probably something that nut would have used as a "base".

He cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, eyes widening in surprise. In the center of the church were flowers amongst flowers. He let out an appreciative whistle.

"Never would have thought they could grow in Midgar." He said to himself.

While looking at the flowers was awe-inspiring and made him feel all kind of things (he had always liked playing in the dirt and had been heart-broken to find that there wasn't any here, just miserable concrete), he was at a loss as to why he didn't just leave. It wasn't like he wanted to stay in pain, and he kind of needed to apologize to Angeal for running out on him…

But there was something here, something he hadn't felt in a long time; a purity that was carefully woven in peace.

Before he knew it, he was sitting on one of the pews, head bent against clasped hands, elbows resting on thighs. To anyone coming in, he would have looked like he was praying. Was he? He didn't know. Something about this place though, made him want to confess, want to reflect.

He closed his eyes and let himself fall.

It had been a long time. So long, he had given that life up for good. It was just like him, to appear out of nowhere like that, to find he still existed somewhere inside his heart…

"_Don't let the darkness consume you."_

"_I won't, not this time."_

Blades of light, sent towards the enemy…"a new limit break—already?" Being whispered around him as both the virtual and real world seemed to break away from him...

He wasn't aware of it, but his shoulders shook as he silently cried.

* * *

Zack took his time examining every each of the church. It took him a while to realize that it was being cared for and not just the flowers either. The place looked in to be in remarkably good condition for only being kept up by one person, if he guessed right.

It was a wonder people didn't just come in and take the place over. Having a roof over your head was not something to be taken lightly down in the slums. He wondered if the person didn't have a key that would fit into those locks on the ancient-looking doors.

A key…

He wondered.

The past seemed to be catching up with him today, what was one more thing to add to that list? He couldn't possibly have one, he told himself. But he had never tried, had he?

What many people didn't know was that Zack had brief moments of indecisiveness, but that they would only be that: brief. He had sworn he would never let indecisiveness destroy this life of his.

Taking in a deep breath, he flicked his hand in a familiar, yet strangely new motion. He jerked back and closed his eyes as light engulfed his senses. A weight landed into his hand, and he hesitantly cracked an eye open.

He fully opened both eyes in disbelief. A keyblade! It was a keyblade! It was...extremely weird. The teeth were composed of two white wings, with two black wings wrapping and winding down a silver shaft that got a little bit bigger as it connected to a hilt that seemed oddly reminiscent of Angeal's Buster Blade. The keychain was strangely enough, a tiny weird-colored apple.

"The heck?" He stared at the giant key.

He felt a chill and wondered if the keyblade spelled doom for him. He let go of it and watched as it disintegrated into light (and what looked like digital coding, he tried to pretend he hadn't noticed that).

He felt better, but still not a hundred percent. He was, however, much more confused than he had been before. There was only one person he could talk to, needed to talk to.

Well, he thought, as he looked down to himself, he should probably go grab a potion and a change of clothes first.

* * *

"Angeal."

His name was said quietly, but he recognized who said it before he even turned around.

"Zack-" The words died in his throat as he took in the disheveled appearance of his student, who was looking at him with the saddest puppy dog-eyes he had ever seen.

He let out a quiet sigh and motioned for the other to follow him. A Shinra hallway was no place for a personal conversation. They were both uncharacteristically quiet as Angeal led the way to his personal apartment. Once the door slid shut behind them, he marched Zack over to his kitchen table, made him sit, and then slid into the seat across from him. He didn't even get the chance to put on his game face before Zack blurted out the answer to most of his questions.

"What if I told you most of my personality was built from someone else?"

He took in a sharp breath as Zack winced and looked ready to bolt.

"I'd say you need to explain to me what you mean by that." He said reasonably, but more importantly, calmly.

Zack made a face at the table before deciding to take the plunge.

"There once was this boy. His name was Zack. He was full of energy and his greatest wish was to be a hero. He had plans to leave his parents and find a way to obtain that wish." The boy across from him leaned back and stared at the ceiling as if looking at something else.

"He found a way across the stars, you could say, to fulfill his dreams. But a man saw his potential, saw what no one else could see, and struck him down. The boy was too full of light, I guess."

Zack paused and said rather painfully,

"He was a friend of mine."

Angeal fought hard not to react, but it was a near thing. Zack continued on, either unwilling or unable to stop,

"By what you could call fate, I looked scarily like him. We were virtually identical; we even sounded alike. I had…lost everything. I decided to take up his name and…his dream."

Silence washed over them as he strove to fully understand what his student was saying, while said student seemed to be trying to figure out what to say next.

"What about his parents? Didn't they know?" Angeal finally pieced his thoughts together enough to ask.

"No. They were so glad to have their baby back they overlooked anything "odd", put it off as harsh lessons brought on by the road. I love them as if they were my own, but I can't look them in the eye."

Much like he was doing right now, Angeal mused as Zack looked at everything but him.

"What was your real name?" Angeal asked.

"Terra." It was said so quietly, he was sure that he wouldn't have heard it without mako-enhancement.

* * *

This was it, Zack decided, all or nothing. He had one last thing to say. He was only telling him a modified truth, no meddling with the world order after all, but, to be honest, he didn't have to tell him everything to get him to understand what was bothering him.

He wasn't looking at Angeal though, didn't want to see what might be lurking in those eyes. Angeal could pull of the world's greatest stoic face, but his eyes would betray him every time. Not many people knew to look though, too imitated by him. In his heart though, he knew Angeal wasn't like that, wouldn't be looking at him as if his student had betrayed him like Master—

Right, time to get on with it, he let out a shaky breath,

"You know how strange my limit breaks are, right? Well they're really not my limit breaks—I mean, they are, but they come from different—I mean!"

"Zack, take a deep breath then try to explain."

Inhale, hold, and exhale. Right, he could do this.

"I have this ability to click with certain people. You know how you meet a special person and then some sort of bond snaps into place? It goes a bit farther than that for me. I…have the ability to take their limit breaks or use special moves that are powered by that bond. You know how you say that one limit break looks familiar? It, uh, it's yours. I hear you say something about proving my honor, then wham! Bam! Uh, yeah…"

He trailed off weakly as he knocked his knuckles together nervously. He could practically feel Angeal's disbelief.

"You hear me? Wait, so whenever you're doing that mimic of Octaslash, it's really—"

"The real Octaslash? Yeah." It was quiet for a moment, yet the hardest part still needed saying. He cleared his throat,

"Um, so, today. I had a reminder that I'm not really…well, that I had a past before now." He stumbled over his words, not wanting to really say it.

"Who was it?" It was asked with such a quiet, yet powerful tone that he couldn't do anything but look up.

"My father." He said, looking at Angeal, and it was to his surprise that he only saw concern looking back at him.

They stared at each other for a minute before Angeal reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Tell me about him." Angeal requested and Zack couldn't help but beam at the man.

"Heh, you would have loved him. The both of you could probably sit there, drinking tea, talking about honor and misbehaving students all day."

* * *

Angeal took a sip of newly-made tea, and stared at his student who was currently yammering on about an Aqua and a Ven. He was still processing everything Zack had said. Or was that Terra? He took in the swinging of the arms, the fidgeting in the seat and the light in his eyes as he talked about something he loved. Nope, still Zack.

Just a second Zack was all. Now how to deal with this information? He couldn't very well let it slip that his student's limit breaks depended on other people, or that he could keep getting them so long as he found the right people to "click" with. The research department would be all over him. Then Angeal would get in trouble for killing them all.

He was wondering if he should get Genesis and Sephiroth in on helping him cover up the (now confirmed) infinite limit break issue, when he noticed Zack was now quiet and staring at him.

"What is it?" He asked, setting his mug down, feeling the change in the atmosphere.

"Uh, you're not mad are you? With well, everything and all…" He nervously trailed off, scratching the back of his head.

"_Zack_," he said pointedly, "I'm not mad. I'm not even disappointed. I just wish you told me all this earlier. You seemed pretty upset over it." And I still have to make sure no one catches wind of your abilities, he thought with some despair.

He wasn't feeling too down though, not with the way Zack was beaming at him, as if he had turned on the sun in a grey-lit sky.

* * *

Zack bounced out of Angeal's apartment with a promise of being early for training and a cookie in his mouth. Yesterday, he had felt absolutely terrible, and today he had felt too anxious to eat. Now, though he felt as if everything was once again right with the world. Granted, he had to spin a few things so they made sense, and he didn't mention that a different version of Sephiroth had killed his predecessor (and he hoped dearly that this version didn't try to kill him).

He also didn't mention that the reason he looked like the original Zack was because he had accidently gotten stuck in the boy's dead, preserved body.

Fate indeed.

Either way, he'd take some time to come to terms with his Master's limit break, plead with Angeal to teach him some cool moves, keep making good friends, and keep moving forward with his life.

Now if only he could shake that foreboding feeling he was desperately trying to ignore.

* * *

"A new keyblade has awakened." Yen Sid's eyes pierced the very soul of the seven gathered before him.

"What? But how—"

"Are you sure, I thought—"

"What does this mean?"

The old wizard raised his hand for silence, before continuing,

"None of us have passed on the ability to form keyblades, this I know, but that was not the most surprising event. No, I believed myself to be wrong, but once I learned of this new keyblade, I felt foolish for doubting myself so."

The all leaned forward, eager and anxious to hear what was undoubtedly important and life-changing.

"Before the appearance of the keyblade, I felt a familiar power surge through the very air itself. This power belonged to Master Eraqus."

"What!"

* * *

"Alright, so Donald and Goofy are going with Mickey to this world, and Axel, Roxas, and Xion are going to this one…here it is! We'll be going to this one, specifically the "Planet's Heroes" portion." Kairi said as she typed in the coordinates of the gummi ship.

"How much you want to bet we'll be the ones to run into this keyblade wielder?" Riku asked sarcastically from his seat by the main gun.

Sora, in the pilot's seat, bounced cheerfully.

"I hope that we get to meet them without fighting!"

* * *

Zack stared at his keyblade some more, willing it to make sense to him. A keyblade reflected its master; its appearance only changing when reflected by someone else, usually be changing the keychain. At first, he thought the white wings and the black wings were showing his fight against the darkness (a fight he long thought over) and the steel part reflecting his relationship with SOLDIER.

Now, though, he wasn't so sure. It didn't really feel like that. A keyblade reflected its master, but what if the master was reflecting someone else? Could it be that the wings didn't stand for light and darkness, but for—?

The ringing of his phone startled him enough that he accidently dismissed the keyblade.

"Zack."

"Angeal! What's up?"

"Pack a bag, we're going to Wutai."

"Huh! How come?" He asked even as he began putting his standard issue bag together.

"Trouble."

"Sounds fun."

"Meet me at Helipad One and don't be late."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

"Hey Angeal," Zack began, looking nervously around the helicopter's interior, "I know you'll tell me eventually, but do you mind letting me know why the Big Three are coming with me on my mission?"

Genesis snorted, "Well, it's definitely not because I wanted to be here, or that you'll even have a chance of me helping. Just so you know."

Sephiroth didn't even bother opening his eyes, which was just fine with him, Zack thought, as he glared at Genesis. He turned pleading eyes to Angeal, who looked like he was restraining himself from rolling his eyes.

His mentor sighed, couldn't hear it over the chopper's noise or even through their headsets, but he just knew.

"Two reasons. Before your mission starts, you need to practice field work that I have to monitor, and you're going to work with Sephiroth on your poor excuse for a copy of his limit break."

_Something's happened and I need you with me. Sephiroth knows about your abilities and wants to see what it can do._

"Gotcha! What about Genesis? What's the reason he's here?" The pleading, in a please-don't-let-it-be-what-I-think-it-is tone, hid the real question.

_What about Genesis, does he know?_

"Heh, sorry. I asked if he wanted to help teach you tactics to stay alive, he seemed pretty happy about it."

_Yes, he's going to work with you too, but it's not going to be pleasant._

"Define happy, Angeal," Genesis asked sardonically, "I'll have to pound it into his head day and night and he will probably still not get it!"

_Really unpleasant._

"If Angeal chose him," they started as intense green eyes swept over each of them, "then he can handle it."

There was no need to translate that. Zack felt warmth seep through him where icy coldness had been. For a brief moment, he forgot all about green eyes that oozed madness and promised pain.

* * *

They jumped out over trees, expertly landing around them, before quickly and quietly making their way to a temporary base. They were too close to the Wutai border to take the helicopter all the way there. It took them two hours to get there, and Zack was sure it would have taken much more than that if they weren't mako-enhanced.

Their base consisted of a hastily made tent expertly hidden. It was very small, and he secretly hoped he didn't have to sleep next to either Sephiroth or Genesis. He'd prefer to take the wall and Angeal, for hopefully obvious reasons (He still has dreams of a man in leather with a psychotic smirk, and Genesis would probably light him on fire in the middle of the night as a joke).

Somehow, though, he didn't think that would matter in the long run. He wondered if he was being sent in as a prisoner, it'd make sense, considering the famous "trade off" bridge wasn't that far from here and he'd been recently taking "lessons" on interrogation surviving, but why stop here first? It wasn't like they were here to pick apples or something.

"Oh, yeah!" He slammed his fist into his palm, "Angeal!"

"Right here, Zack." Angeal said exasperated, in the middle of un-wrapping a tasteless granola bar. Zack dug into his pockets and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper before collapsing next to his mentor. He shoved the now-straightened out piece of paper at him.

"Do you have any idea what that is?"

Angeal's eyebrows rose to the top of his head as he took in his student's squiggles that one could mistake for art.

"You don't know what this is?"

"What is it, a picture of a girl?" Genesis sneered Angeal's other side; Zack ignored him as he had been doing so far (and felt he was doing a pretty good job of it too!).

"It's a dumbapple." Angeal replied baffled.

Genesis blinked, "Surely even one of your intelligence knows what that is?"

Zack stared at them blankly. He glanced at Sephiroth who was looking at them all with amusement.

"They're known as Banora Whites." Angeal offered.

"I've never even seen one." Zack shrugged.

"They're only found in Banora, where Genesis and I grew up. They're called dumbapples because they never grow in the right season for apples." Angeal explained.

"Naturally, I had the tree that grew the biggest and best apples!" Genesis smirked as Angeal rolled his eyes.

Zack let them snark at each other while he thought. A Banora White apple, a.k.a. a dumbapple—something he's never even seen before—was his keyblade's keychain? Why? Was it important to Angeal? If it was, could that mean his keyblade actually represented his mentor? If it was…he frowned, remembering the black and white wings.

He'd think of another time. It was time to get down to business.

* * *

"Are you alright, Zack?" Angeal asked him worriedly.

Zack shifted so that he rested easier against the special enforced chains binding him.

"As long as I don't have to train with Sephiroth anymore, I think I'm alright with anything at the moment." Zack joked, trying to lighten his mentor's mood.

He tried not to let it bother him when they tied the blind-fold on.

"I'm not that bad." He heard the silver-haired man reply.

It was as he thought; he was being switched for another hostage. There was another part of it though. He was being depended on to break out, hunt down a crazy scientist that was part of the holding facility, and retrieve (or destroy, Angeal told him, which was not a Shinra-approved action) his notes on a Project Free-Walker. The only thing he knew about it was that it had the power to decide the war.

This was definitely a job for the Turks. Too bad their department had almost been wiped out; they were now spread so thin, there wasn't even a single Turk remaining at the main Shinra building.

Sephiroth, Genesis, nor Angeal could take this mission, being too high on the political and military power food chain, but neither could the person going in be too low, for the trade was for a high-ranking official. In the end, someone had suggested one Zack Fair for the job. (He was sure that person wasn't among the living anymore by the way of Angeal)

As much as he hated the past few days of the boot camp from hell (which apparently consisted of Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth), he was feeling very happy they had taken the time out of their busy schedule to make sure he survived.

As they wheeled him away to his fate, he began to do something he hadn't done in a lifetime—meditate.

* * *

It'll be alright, Angeal told himself. They had trained Zack exclusively for the last few days, their plan will work.

"_Aw, man!" Zack groaned, "I didn't know I could do that many limit breaks in a day, let alone an hour!" _

"_Get back up. We're not finished yet." Sephiroth looked down at the sprawled form of their shared trainee._

_Said trainee groaned some more, "Mind telling me why you're all beating the shit out of me, hoping for limit breaks?"_

"_We're hoping to find out the pattern behind them." Angeal replied from his lookout position near camp._

"_And?" Zack asked even as he struggled to his feet._

"_Haven't you got it yet? We're trying to make it so that when you can break out by using a limit break." Genesis answered haughtily, arriving from his own lookout post._

_Angeal frowned, "I don't know if there even is a pattern, so far, it seems completely random."_

_Sephiroth's eyebrows creased as he looked the worn SOLDIER over with a critical eye,_

"_There is a pattern, I know it."_

_Genesis seemed thoughtful for a moment before turning to Zack and looking at him gleefully, "Guess what I found?"_

_It there could ever be something described as a whimper, that was it, "Not another Malboro!" _

It had been Genesis, who had figured out the pattern at the very last minute. The red-clad SOLDIER was still as smug as a snake over it; he refused to even hint as to what it was. It frustrated Angeal to no end, but if it assured the safety of his student…

He was startled out of his thoughts as a hand clasped his shoulder.

"He'll be fine." Sephiroth assured him, "we have our own work to do."

Angeal exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and nodded. He turned and followed Sephiroth to the awaiting helicopter. He missed Genesis looking back toward the bridge with what looked like concern.

* * *

"I can't see a thing with all these trees." Though the comment was a complaint, the teenager it belonged to was positively glowing with excitement.

"Sora," Kairi said sweetly, "if there were a lot of trees here, why did you decide to land here?"

Riku smothered a laugh as Kairi started to growl at the sheepish-looking teen.

"Well, I saw this flash of light, it was green, I think, and I, kinda, forgot I what I was doing?" Sora asked more than stated as he started to realize the danger he was in.

Riku started snickering, but stiffened suddenly. Kairi and Sora immediately stopped and placed all their intention on him.

"What is it?" Kairi asked softly.

"Darkness." Was the terse reply, the silver-haired teen broke into a run with the other two following not far behind.

* * *

Zack had never been so grateful for all the training in his life, both of them. The initial plan was to wait until the put him in whatever cell they had and use a limit break. His concerns over getting a non-violent limit break when he really needed one were laid to rest by, of all people, Genesis. Say what you will, but the man taught him (most likely accidently) more about his limit breaks than he would have ever gotten by himself.

The plan was changing slightly though. Of course, it couldn't really be called a plan when there were only two stages of it accounted for. Break out with the limit break, somehow destroy the data and fight your way out, get to the transportation.

The middle part was for him to completely wing it.

Of course, all three of the First Class SOLDIERS had discussed at length everything he should do, every random chance possible. None of them planned on his brand of luck though.

He sighed in relief as the metal-rope hybrid they rebound him in gave way. They had thought to re-tie him with their own materials, obviously not trusting Shinra's job of it. Too bad for them the Shinra bindings were more secure.

He destroyed the camera in his cell and looked for more. Seeing nothing else, and really he was going to blow this place sky-high anyways, he summoned his keyblade.

He felt he was starting to understand it. It stood for him, but his precious people were the most important things to him, and it was they who defined him. It had always been that way, ever since he had been Terra. The white wings stood for Angeal, he got that (he couldn't tell you why, he could just sense it). The black wings, well, he had his suspicions, but he couldn't fathom just why they were considered his most important people (perhaps because they were Angeal's most important people?). The hilt stood not for Angeal or his Buster Blade, but for honor. The keychain…he had no reason to think it, but somehow, it felt like it represented fate.

Really though, he needed to get out of here instead trying to decipher symbolism of the heart.

He pointed his key towards his cell door and a light shot out of it. He heard a click and kicked it open. It wasn't like they didn't just see him break free, no need for stealth until they couldn't track his whereabouts.

He heard them before he saw them, and was almost as surprised as they were when he was suddenly upon them, keyblade poised as if he already struck. He blinked as saw all his enemies suddenly split in half and the hallway quickly became a horrifying scene of gore.

He gaped. Was that _Zantetsuken?_

It had been so long! He grimaced at the messy sight, he was suddenly very thankful he never used that move on anything other than unversed before.

He heard some angry yells coming from ahead of him. It was time to go. He had a kooky scientist and his project to find, he needed to make sure there were no other prisoners held here, and then he needed to find a way to blow up the building.

And, he thought with a positively-Genesis smirk, he still had a limit break to unleash.

* * *

"I think it's a military base of some kind." Kairi commented from her position in the tree, hidden behind large leaves.

"Where do you think the darkness is coming from?" Sora quietly asked Riku, who sat a branch over from him.

Riku hesitated for a moment, "Don't know, but it's not going to be anywhere good. If we go in there, we may see some things we can't un-see."

All three fell silent at that as they considered the implications.

"You said it was the kind of darkness that could consume this world, right?" Sora asked his eyes intense.

"Darkness of any kind can consume worlds," Riku replied softly, "But this is the type of darkness that could consume the universe. It reeks of the same type as the Realm of Darkness."

Sora nodded and they knew what they had to do.

* * *

"Ergh, next time you can have the awful let's-be-tortured missions that turn into let's-save-the-world type of missions, Angeal!" Zack complained as he dug through the pockets of a newly-made corpse for any kind of healing items.

There didn't appear to be any soldiers left (or any non-soldiers, come to think of it). Running into a single soldier after all this time was rather unnerving. Still, his skill with the keyblade was coming back, and for that he was thankful. It was the only thing he was grateful for at this moment.

_Zack stared wide-eyed at the laboratory. He knew this! He knew this set-up like the back up his hand. Heartless, the man was trying to create heartless! Years of watching, hearing, and feeling as that man foolishly tried his experiments on the heart._

_It was a bit different, this man didn't seem to know half as much as Xehanort the apprentice had, but he would have eventually gotten there. Would have, because Zack was going to make sure it couldn't go any farther. It was all going to burn. _

_He had managed to get a decent fire started with some tools lying around, and it was well on its way, when he was forced to dodge roll, unique-looking bullets flying at where he used to be._

"_You bastard!" A crazed man in a lab coat screamed, "That was my life's work! You ruined it! You ruined it!"_

"_How the hell did you get a twisted idea like that anyway!" Zack yelled from behind a table he had over-turned. _

_There was no response, and he peeked from cover. He gaped, because where the scientist once stood, was a twisted looking creature that resembled a lion with a snake's head; there was a design shaped like an empty red heart on its chest. It spat something at him, and he ducked back to cover. Maybe the scientist had run for it, but where had that heartless come from?_

_Maybe more importantly, he thought in wild panic as he looked over the table, where did it go!_

* * *

Wham! Wham! Rip.

There went another punching bag, Sephiroth thought with something close to worry.

Angeal was going at it as if his life depended on it, and Sephiroth had only seen the man lose it this badly twice. Both times was when they had nearly lost Genesis forever. His thoughts took a dark turn as he remembered those events.

As if sensing being thought about, the red-clad man sidled up next to one of the two people he called friend and watched the other one put up a new punching bag.

"You know he's not going to stop any time soon, someone just tried to kill his dog." Genesis commented mildly.

Sephiroth glanced at him before correcting him, "His puppy. And even with the three of us, we have yet to figure out who ordered it or why they sought to hide it from us. I imagine that is taking its toll."

The two stood there contemplating for a moment as the sound of Angeal beating on the training equipment filled the room.

"The puppy's limit breaks are truly unnerving, are they not?" Genesis admitted quietly.

Sephiroth blinked in surprise that his friend would confess to a weakness before nodding. It really was. Before, he had tried to ignore the mimic of his Octaslash, had purposely overlooked any unsettling feelings regarding it. Now that he knew the truth, he could not ignore if he tried. It had been like watching part of his soul residing in Zack.

"I think I had better go terrorize some of the grunts being sent out next week. They'll need reminding what it's like being on a war front." Genesis said somewhat cruelly, already smirking in anticipation.

The red head gave a lazy wave over his shoulder as Sephiroth bid his friend well in his endeavors. (Because if Genesis didn't get it out of his system on the unsuspecting, then he became even worse)

Just as Sephiroth thought to leave as well, he needed to prepare for his own return to the Wutai front, he paused. Zack's limit breaks only unnerved the person he was basing his power on. How did Genesis know how disquieting they were?

* * *

The three of them were quiet as they made their way inside the base. Any lock encountered was quickly dealt with and they soon found themselves traversing an almost maze-like interior.

"It's so empty. I wonder why?" Kairi said quietly, troubled as they once again found themselves down an empty corridor.

"The taint is spreading, yet we're not seeing anything." Riku almost growled in frustration.

Sora had an unusually grim face and he seemed to be thinking. Kairi and Riku shared worried looks. Things were never good when Sora got serious.

"Something's not right." He said after a while, eyes gazing at them seriously.

Almost a second later, they heard an inhuman scream coming from down the hallway. They took off, their keyblades shining in the artificial light.

* * *

"You will go back to being nothing more than a bad dream," Zack grunted and dodged rolled a serpentine head, "And I'll go back to pretending I never knew what you were!"

He jump and slammed his keyblade into the head that had been trying to kill him. The snake head reared back in pain, and Zack took a minute to regain his breath.

_He jumped out from behind the table as something exploded to his left. He had forgotten all about the fire. He sprinted for the door, but paused as he saw the gun the crazy scientist had earlier lying on the next to it. Why had he left it? He flinched as something exploded with a sharp crack. _

_No time to lose. He had to find out if he was the only Shinra prisoner here. It bothered him a bit that there seemed to be no more Wutai soldiers, but perhaps he had gotten them all. Either way, he needed to find the other cell blocks._

The snake-lion hybrid tensed before spitting out an acid; Zack dodged it quickly, having already learnt that he did not want to get hit with it. The beast let out a hiss and wings protruded from its back.

_Zack was in the control room, or he believed so anyway. There were quite a few computers, a couple of file cabinets, and a few monitors set up solely for the security cameras. He bypassed the computers; he only knew how to read Wutai in the most basic form, and he was pretty sure they would be beyond basic (if not coded)._

_He turned to the security feed and found a way to click through the channels. He clicked through them rapidly until he got from the outside cameras to the inside ones. Slowly, he looked through the entire base. There were no other prisoners, and for that matter, no other people._

_The only thing alive (and he said that loosely) was the monster rampaging around one of the training rooms. Or so he thought, until he clicked over to the last camera and found a lone Wutain soldier fighting off a group of heartless. He hastily found the location to the room and prayed he wasn't too late. _

"Stupid-looking thing aren't you?" Zack grumbled as he defended himself, "I think I'll call you Snake Head just to spite you."

As if in response, Snake Head let out roar instead of a screech, and lunged at him with its claws. Zack hastily brought up his keyblade and blocked it.

_Zack cut them down fast. None of the heartless was particularly powerful, but Zantetsuken was exceedingly so. He made sure all of them were dealt with before crouching down next to the last remaining person here._

_The Wutai soldier looked pitiful, and Zack frowned. If he didn't know any better, he would say the man had been injured by more than the heartless._

"_Hey, you okay?" He softly asked._

_The man replied in garbled Wutain, before awkwardly twisting his words until they resembled the common speech. _

"_The…monsters…came from…us!" _

"_Yeah, I know, I'm not sure where Professor Creepy got them or where he went though." Zack replied, trying to get a better look at the blood stand on the man's side._

"_No! Not…understand! Shot us! Monsters…came from…us…_are us_." _

_And before Zack could do anything, the man was engulfed in darkness and a shadow heartless lunged at him. Zack swiftly dealt with the small creature, heart sinking as he pieced everything together._

_The reason he hadn't heard the scientist leave, was because he hadn't left. The gun with the weird bullets must have somehow made a person lose their heart. Professor Creepy had been busy on his way to confront the person destroying his lab, and this man must have had an exceptionally strong heart to hold on so long…_

_A screech echoed down the hallway and the hand wrapped around his keyblade hilt tightened in anger. He'd take down the monster the scientist had been (with or without a heart); he swore it. Zack took the man's blade that had been thrown aside and strapped it to his back._

"I don't know how you found out about all this, but I'm going to stop it here and now!" Zack yelled in fury.

He swung a few times, angering the heartless more than anything, and leapt back as the heartless decided its wings made acceptable improvised blades.

"I've got something very special for you." Zack said darkly.

He dismissed his keyblade, an action that would have had his mentor face-palming, but he didn't need it for what he was about to do next. As far as he was concerned, when he was through, nothing would be left standing.

Zack let the memories drown him. The one-on-one training with Genesis, the anger and doubt the man had made him feel as he was pushed to his limits. The smirk as he humiliated what he viewed as beneath him. The unusually serious gaze as the First Class reminded him that Angeal was counting on him.

Power rolled off him as he felt himself lift off the ground.

"_Show me the true power of SOLDIER!"_

* * *

Sora managed to rush in first, but stopped in surprise as he realized, with mounting horror, that the screech had originated from a creature with a very familiar symbol on it. Heartless, there was a heartless in the room! Heartless hadn't been seen in a very long time, not since—

He heard the sharp inhale from what was no doubt Riku and knew the other was just as worried.

"That guy's unarmed!" Kairi shrieked and brought both boy's attention to a man that stood in front of the creature.

"Hey! Watch out!" Sora yelled, rushing forward, Riku and Kairi a step behind.

He skidded to a stop when the man began to float, power radiating off of him in invisible waves. He rose until hit nearly hit the ceiling, and then he waved his left hand.

Red runes covered the entire floor.

"Barrier!" cried Kairi, slamming up the strongest shield she could manage.

Sora and Riku strengthened her shield the best they could. They only had a second to do this, as the man stared down at the heartless, waved his left hand again, and allowed a green glow to engulfed it. He jerked his hand upwards and the runes gave an incredibly bright glow.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

"Ow." Zack groaned as he sat up.

He picked a piece of the ceiling off of his lap and, very carefully, stood up. He shook himself to get rid of some of the annoying dust stuck to him, and surveyed the damage.

"Whoa, that…was a bit of a doozy."

Which was putting it mildly he thought as he gazed over what once was a fortified building. Everything was gone; the only thing left was debris. He had put more power into that move than he thought he had.

Mission Success! He smiled to himself; it was time to return home. It had been only been a day (or two, he wasn't sure, he'd been unconscious for some of it), but he was more than ready to get back. He'd go see Angeal and reassure him, and he'd forget all about heartless and keyblades—

He rolled out of the way as something swiped at his back. His first instinct was to grab the sword on his back and hold it into a defensive position. When he looked towards his new enemy, he almost dropped the blade in shock.

There, standing in front of him with a rage-filled expression, was a very familiar silver-haired teenager with a keyblade. Zack's expression would have been funny in any other situation.

Riku was holding himself in a way that suggested that violence was the only thing on his mind, keyblade menacing in the dusk air. Zack's mind blanked as he tried to figure out what to do, where this teen had come from, and why he was so angry.

Zack was shocked when darkness began curling around the teen.

"You hurt my friends." Were the snarled words before darkness reached out and consumed him.

* * *

And that's all she wrote. See? Told you it wasn't that great. That said, almost every little panel was a set up for a subplot, which will remain unwritten because there are very few chances I'll even think of writing more. And also notice: no Final Fantasy 7 character that is in KH appears except Sephiroth (who has clones). Hmm. Anyways, if you're reading this note, then you must have read to the end, so thanks for reading!

Almost forgot, let me tell you what the title means:

Zaister = Za Is Ter = Za**ck** Is Ter**ra**


End file.
